Background. Infective endocarditis (IE) in older patients is associated with a high morbidity, mortality, and functional impairment. The purpose of this study was to describe the current profile of IE in octogenarians and to analyze the prognostic impact of baseline comorbidities in this population. Methods. Patients ≥ 80 years and definite IE from the Spanish IE Prospective Database were included. The effect of Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) on in-hospital and 12-month mortality was analyzed. Results. From 726 patients, 357 (49%) had CCI ≥ 3 and 369 (51%) CCI < 3. A total of 265 patients (36.6%) died during hospital admission and 338 (45.5%) during 1-year follow-up. CCI ≥ 3 was an independent predictor of in-hospital and 1-year mortality (odds ratio 1.46, 95% confidence interval 1.07−1.99, p = 0.017; hazard ratio 1.34, 95% confidence interval 1.08−1.66, p = 0.007, respectively). Surgical management was less common in patients with high comorbidity (CCI ≥ 3 68 [19.0%] vs. CCI < 3 112 ((30.4%) patients, p < 0.01). From 443 patients with surgical indication, surgery was only performed in 176 (39.7%). Patients with surgical indication treated conservatively had higher mortality than those treated with surgery (in-hospital mortality: 147 (55.1%) vs. 55 (31.3%), p < 0.001), (1-year mortality: 172 (64.4%) vs. 68 [38.6%], p < 0.001). Conclusion. About half of octogenarians with IE had high comorbidity with CCI ≥ 3. CCI ≥ 3 was a strong independent predictor of in-hospital and 1-year mortality. Our data suggest that the underperformance of cardiac surgery in this group of patients might have a role in their poor prognosis.
Keywords: Charlson index; age; comorbidity; endocarditis; surgery.